A great segment of today's population suffers from back pain and back disorders, particularly those that may actively engage in athletic endeavors or otherwise participate in strenuous activities. Most people will suffer some form of back disorder at least once in their lifetime. Many back-related aliments and disorders typically originate from bad posture, poor sitting habits, injury, over exertion, or poor physical condition, resulting in muscular aches and pains and/or distortion or misalignment of the natural elongated S-curvature of the spinal column often referred to as vertebral subluxation.
The back comprises two main parts: the back muscles and the spinal column. The back muscles are integrally connected and attached to the spinal column, while the spinal column consists of bones called vertebrae that are connected together by facet joints. Softer disks separate the vertebrae such as to permit the spinal column to move, bend and flex. They also serve as cushions in between the vertebrae and absorb shock and vibration produced by activities such as running and walking. Nerves connecting the brain to various parts of the body make up the spinal cord, which is protected by the vertebrae. Nerves extend away from the spinal cord to various organs and muscles including those in the arms and legs and carry instructional signals from the brain to the muscles, organs, and limbs to permit their proper functionality. Nerves further serve as pain receptors and appropriately transmit pain sensations from different parts of the body to the brain via the spinal cord.
In instances of one suffering from back pain due to vertebral subluxation, for example, the vertebrae are either out of position, not moving properly, or are undergoing degeneration. This frequently leads to a narrowing of the spaces between the bones through which the nerves pass, thus resulting in irritation or impingement of the nerve itself. Consequently, all of the tissues and organs that are fed by those nerves receive distorted instructional signals from the brain to such extent to lose their capacity to function properly and normally.
Since nerves control the muscles and muscles assist in maintaining the proper position of the vertebrae and thus the normal S-curvature shape of the spinal column, muscles have to be considered an integral part of the vertebral subluxation condition. In fact, muscles both affect and are affected by the vertebral subluxation condition. A subluxation of the spinal column can irritate a nerve, the irritated nerve can then cause a muscle to spasm, the muscle undergoing spasm pulls the attached vertebrae further out of position, which in turn further irritates the nerve, resulting in a vicious and continuous cycle of back pain.
There are numerous therapeutic treatment regimens available and known in the art that appropriately address common forms of back pain and disorders, including the vertebral subluxation condition discussed above. Typically in cases of correcting vertebral subluxation, for example, medical practitioners may prescribe a treatment regimen comprising adjustment of the spinal column that involves a quick thrust applied to a vertebra for the purpose of correcting its position, movement or both followed by therapeutic massage, physical therapy, stretching exercises, or strengthening exercises to prevent its reoccurrence and maintain the normal shape and functionally of the spinal column.
In other cases where back pain may originate from irritated or pinched nerves, the medical practitioner may prescribe spinal traction as a form of therapy in which manual or mechanical forces are applied to the body in an attempt to stretch and realign the spine. Therapeutic spinal traction is most often used to address compressive pain. Compressive pain means that there is pressure on one or more nerves in the spine. The goal of traction is to reduce compression in the spinal column, release trapped nerves, hydrate the interstitial tissue surrounding the vertebrae for increased flexibility and mobility of the spinal column, lessen or eliminate muscle spasms and contractures and in turn relieve the back pain. Traction can either be applied manually by a physical therapist who applies a manual force on the muscles and joints to widen the space between vertebrae or by spinal traction devices that incorporate pulleys, ropes, and slings to stretch the spine.
Although the art readily offers numerous forms of therapeutic devices capable of treating back pain and disorders, many are typically directed to treating a singular ailment, such as being mainly directed to alleviating back pain through muscular massage or traction of the spine, but not both in a simultaneous manner. Although back pain and disorders may originate from many sources, such as being muscular based and/or spinal based, it is quite appropriate and quintessential to offer a therapeutic apparatus adaptively suited to or capable of comprehensively treating the musculoskeletal system and spinal column as a collective unit, particularly given the strong physiological and functional interrelationship between the spinal column and surrounding muscular tissue.
Mechanically-based devices of the type appropriately configured as a bed or table that permits an individual user to rest atop thereof to receive a therapeutic massage for resolving back pain and disorders mentioned hereinbefore typically rely on a conveyor arrangement of rollers or a carriage of rollers that is guided on a rail or track assembly and sufficiently driven by a motor. In some configurations that depart from a more linear or planar roller arrangement, the carriage assembly may comprises mechanical provisions that allow the rollers to generally follow and conform to the curvature of the back or spine insofar to apply a more uniform pressure along the entire length of the spine, such as the chiropractic massage table depicted in Steffensmeier, U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,475. Other attempts that provide for adjustability of the massaging device for increased intimate contact with the spine absent traction capabilities include the spinal treatment table shown in Dreher, U.S. Pat. No. 6,681,770. Although each of the two prior art devices exemplify reasonable attempts to render a more complete massage via intimate contact between the rollers and the spine, they, as well as others, inadequately comprise supplemental means for stretching the spine that sufficiently establishes a comprehensive effort to resolve back pain and disorders that originate relatively around and about the spinal column.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a therapeutic apparatus that employs a plurality of massaging rollers having adjustability capabilities to permit an intimate relationship with the spine for increased massaging effect while simultaneously offering an option to stretch the spine in a manner that is more conducive and comprehensive in resolving back pain and disorders that commonly afflict a majority of the population.